


Bullets, Bombs, and Babysitting

by BucksFizz



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Love/Hate, Rewrite, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 14:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8289928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BucksFizz/pseuds/BucksFizz
Summary: One year on from an ugly break-up, secret agents Lily Evans and James Potter are thrust reluctantly together again on a dangerous mission to protect 'The Asset', code-named 'Harry'. With agents Lupin and Pettigrew as back-up and disgraced former agent Sirius Black desperately trying to bring down a killer cult to prove his worthiness, it's sure to be a fun ride. Muggle!AU.





	1. Rule Number One: Don't Leave Sirius With The Car

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of swearing, alcohol use, and some mild sexy talk.

The footsteps were getting closer towards her position and she tensed up, trying to get herself into as small a ball as possible so that he wouldn't discover her hiding place. The footsteps stopped; her pulse increased rapidly as she watched the expensive leather shoes, praying for her own sake that they would continue on their way. _Please God, I swear I'll go to Mass this weekend, just please don't let him bend down and find me..._ she prayed, closing her eyes and burying her face against the scratchy carpet. _Please, please, please..._

"Evans?"

Nearly jumping out of her skin, her head banged against the underside of the desk and she let out a vulgar and particularly creative curse. Gingerly rubbing the sore spot on her scalp, she reluctantly poked her head out to see James Potter staring curiously down at her. Lily opened and closed her mouth a few times, all words seeming to flee from her mind as images of the last time she'd been on her knees in front of him - in a very different situation - replaced them.

_Come on brain... engage, co-operate with mouth... say something, Lily, for fuck's sake!_

"I... lost an earring," she said after an awkwardly long pause, immediately remembering that she didn't put any on that morning.

"Hate to break it to you but I think you may have lost the other one as well," he said with a faint smile before continuing on his way to the water cooler. Lily closed her eyes and hid back under the desk, burying her head in her hands. _At least I don't need to go to Mass on Sunday. Yeah, Lily, this really is a win for you._ She let out a muffled moan of frustration.

"Evans!"

Her head jerked up again and slammed once more into the desk; she let out a yelp of pain as she managed to find the exact tender spot she'd hit before. Crawling out on her hands and knees, Lily looked up into the face of an irate man in his early forties glaring down at her with all of the force his one good eye could muster.

"What the hell are you doing under that desk?" he barked. "I'm still waiting on three case reports that need filing from you and this is how I find you spending your work hours!"

"I lost an earring," she tried to defend herself as she scrambled to her feet. "They'll be on your desk before I go home tonight, I swear. I just got caught up with-"

"I don't care," he snapped, "Just make sure they get done."

With that, he limped away, leaving Lily to slump defeated against the wall, holding her sore head. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse, Potter walked past and shot her a sympathetic look, having clearly witnessed the whole exchange.

_I'm definitely not going to Mass._

She trudged slowly back to her cubicle and collapsed into her chair. A messy pile of paperwork teetered precariously on her desk, waiting for her. It was just another day in paradise.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

James couldn't help feeling a little guilty as he walked back towards his office, knowing that, despite what Lily said, she had been hiding from him and therefore it was his fault that she had got it from Moody.

"Potter!"

_Speak of the devil..._

He turned smartly on his heel to face his boss and raised an eyebrow. "Something I can help you with, sir?"

The older man caught up to him and slapped a casefile into his hands before continuing on his way, calling over his shoulder: "Read it over, there's a briefing scheduled at 1100 hours."

James looked down at the file in his hands and called back, "Yes, sir..."

He unlocked his office and strode inside, dropping the file casually on the empty and highly polished desk before taking a seat. Taking a sip from his glass of water, his mind returned to the redheaded junior agent. Old memories resurfaced and brought a smile to the corners of his lips: the time in Berlin when they'd been posted on the same mission just after graduating from training; or the time in the hotel in Edinburgh when the bed had broken... Christ, that had been embarrassing to explain to the receptionist,; or-

A bang on the window dragged him out of his daydreams and Moody yelled from the other side of it out in the corridor. "I said get reading, Potter!"

James tipped a small salute his way, earning a muttered rant as Moody limped away.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The cold air bit into any exposed skin as Sirius walked hurriedly towards the old bar. Pushing open the door, he welcomed the warmth that immediately flowed through his bones as he stepped inside. Giving a nod to one of the other regulars, he walked up to the bar and took his usual seat, motioning for a drink from the bartender.

Tom slid a beer over to him and crossed his arms, observing the bedraggled looking man before him. Sirius downed his whiskey in one gulp and shrugged. "What?"

"Been seeing a lot of you in here the past couple of weeks," Tom replied, giving him a knowing look.

Sirius shrugged again. "Marlene isn't speaking to me again. James works late a lot. Don't like being stuck in the flat by myself, that's all. What are you complaining for anyway? More money for you."

Tom chuckled. "No complaints here, God knows I need the extra cash these days." He moved away to serve another customer, leaving Sirius to stare around the room. His eyes stopped on the newest patron and with a grin, he got up from his seat and moved over to the one next to her.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The fiery liquid burned the back of her throat, a familiar feeling these days, as she slammed the shot glass back down onto the cracked wooden counter. Another shot was placed swiftly and silently in front of her and she proceeded to make short work of that one as well. This was one of the few reasons she actually liked this dump of a bar: fast service, no one to bother you.

"Shouldn't you be giving that up?" came a friendly voice from just behind her. Twinkling grey eyes pierced hers from underneath an unruly mane of dark hair and she smiled and shook her head. The movement combined with the fast intake of alcohol caused the room around her to start spinning and she was forced to clutch at the counted to keep herself upright. Taking a deep breath, she replied in a semi-dignified tone: "I can handle my alcohol, thank you very much, Mr Black. Besides, I don't officially go on duty for another thirteen hours."

_Plenty of time to stagger home to my horrible little flat and pass out on the couch. And the cat... need to remember and feed the cat._

Sirius grinned at his ex-colleague and shook his head as he turned towards Tom and motioned for another round. Sneaking a look at Lily, he saw her long red hair was tied back in a loose ponytail where several errant strands had escaped to hang messily around her face. There were dark circles under her eyes he noted, with a brief flash of concern. She wasn't even trying to hide them with make-up anymore. His gaze wandered lower. She'd also definitely lost weight since he'd first met her and unfortunately all in the wrong places.

 _James is a bastard_ , he thought shaking his head slightly. His eyes moved back up to her face to find her staring at him with a strange expression on her pale face, somewhere between affront and amusement.

"Wondering if the stories he's told you are true?" she asked, a smirk turning up the corners of her lips as she swayed precariously on the rickety bar stool.

"What stories?" he asked innocently, hiding the grin threatening to split his face in two at the few he could remember.

She rolled her eyes and leant forwards on the bar. "Come off it, Black, you're flatmates, best friends since the year dot. Knowing Potter, I'd say about... a quarter of them are true."

Picking up his bottle of beer, Sirius raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer, pretence gone. "So... is the one about the balcony true?"

She laughed despite herself. "Oh, yeah."

Sirius let out a low whistle and joined in with her laughter before taking a swig of his beer. James was a _lucky_ bastard. "Tough day at work?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. I had to stay three hours late just to get all the reports done and Moody won't get off my back, he's been riding me like you wouldn't believe," she moaned, downing her drink.

Sirius snickered. "There's an image."

Lily shot him a look of disgust. "That's not what I meant." She shuddered. "I honestly can't think of anyone worse."

"Me think the lady doth protest too much..." Sirius replied, waggling his eyebrows as he started a new bottle. "So you'd take me over Moody, then?"

She rolled her eyes. "If someone had a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd go with you, yeah."

"Hmmm..." His eye glinted with mischief. "Say this person is still holding that gun... me or James?"

"Ugh, Sirius!" she warned and he held up his hands.

"Just a hypothetical situation, no need to get your knickers in a twist. But if you had to choose one of us, who would it be?" he asked, smirking as his messy hair fell over his eyes. "Don't worry; your answer is not a binding contract. When you say my name I'm not going to immediately drag you off to my lair."

Lily snorted with laughter. "You're awfully sure of yourself."

Sirius gave her a look of incredulity and motioned to his body. "Come on, love, I've got good reason to be."

She laughed and he smiled as he took a swig of beer, his mind drifting back to the balcony story.

_Stupid, lucky bastard._

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Right now, James Potter was feeling anything but lucky. He'd read the casefile a dozen times since the briefing, each time hoping that some magical force would change the name that jumped out at him from the pages, but after the thirteenth time, he'd sighed and thrown the documents back down onto the desk. Clearly someone was having a good laugh at his expense right now, he thought, rubbing his eyes. This assignment was going to be hell. A loud beeping noise made him jump and spill the hot coffee in his hand onto his lap. Swearing loudly, James jumped to his feet and frantically tried to dry the spreading stain at the same time as trying to keep the now burning hot fabric away from his crotch. He pulled the offending beeper out of his belt and repeated the profanity, only just refraining from throwing the device across the room

"Dammit, Sirius!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Back in the bar, Lily clutched hold of Sirius' arm, tears of laughter streaming down her face at a joke she normally would have just rolled her eyes at. He was nearly as drunk and grinned as he lapped up the attention.

"Tell it again!" she begged, hiccuping. A cold gust of air made her shiver and she turned to yell at the newest customer who was banging his boots on the welcome mat trying to get the snow off them.

"Close the door, you jackass..." The words died in her throat as he looked up and her eyes focused on the tall, dark-haired agent glaring over at her drinking partner.

James looked up, his eyes immediately going to Sirius' usual spot and instead settling on the gorgeous and more than a little inebriated redhead beside him. Damn it, was she following him or something? Steeling himself for a verbal assault at the least, James walked towards the couple.

"You want a lift home I take it," he said stiffly, his eyes fixed on Sirius, inwardly vowing to kill his scruffy friend later. A strange noise from his other side caused him to involuntarily turn and look at Lily, who was sitting with her hand clamped over her mouth, shoulders heaving. He was about to uncomfortably inquire if she was alright before he noticed where her stare was directed: his crotch. More specifically, the coffee stain still covering his crotch.

Eventually Lily couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into giggles.

"Have an accident on the way here, Potter?" she snickered, slurring slightly on his surname.

Sirius, ever the loyal friend, clocked the wet patch and started to guffaw loudly. "Either that or he's been thinking about your balcony story, Evans!"

His face burning red, James grabbed him by the collar and started pulling him towards the door. Opening it, James turned back to Lily and blurted out, "I spilled my coffee!"

"Whatever you say, Potter," she snickered as he hustled Black out to the car park.

Sirius pushed James away as he continued to haul him across the icy concrete and looked at him indignantly. "You should have offered her a lift home as well."

"That'll be right," James scoffed, though he felt a tiny niggle of guilt as he unlocked the brand new Aston Martin. Stereotypical he knew, but the cool cars and gadgets were what really motivated people to join up. Well, there was the sense of duty and serving Queen and country and all that ... but mainly it was the cars. "And have her throwing up all over the back seat again? Lily's more than capable of getting herself home, she's a trained agent."

"C'mon, Prongs!" Sirius slurred as he lay across all three back seats. "You can't let a drunk lady wander the streets at this time of night. Where's your sense of chivalry?"

"I keep telling you, stop calling me that. It wasn't funny in high school and it isn't funny now," James replied. But Sirius did have a point... he sighed. "Wait here."

Trudging back through the snow, James re-entered the bar and reluctantly made his way over to the lone woman. He cleared his throat and she turned to look questioningly at him.

"Come on, I'm taking you home," he said gruffly.

She looked at him for a few moments then nodded, getting shakily up from the bar stool. The bartender noticed her about to leave and hustled over.

"Your bill, Evans?" he said pointedly. Looking at James he added, "And your friend has skipped out on his three nights now. Someone needs to settle it."

James rolled his eyes and reached into his jacket pocket for his wallet. "How much?"

"You don't want to know," Lily muttered.

"I'm paying for it so of course I want to know," James replied, looking back at Tom expectantly.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Outside in the car park, Sirius heard a muffled "Son of a bitch!" and let out a drunken chortle, before his ears perked up. A cluster of shadows fell over him as he lay peering up at the figures that filled the space in the still open car door.

"Can I help you fine gentlemen?" he inquired, before letting out a yelp as they lunged for him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I can't believe him!" James muttered furiously as he strode out of the bar. Lily trotted after him, the street lights dancing around her.

"He's going through a rough patch, cut him some slack," she said. "Imagine if you'd gone through the last few years that he's had, with Marlene and work..."

"It's not exactly been a piece of cake for me either," he retorted, then stopped short. Lily, not noticing, ran into the back of him and let out an unladylike "Oof!" as she stumbled on the slippery snow and fell on her backside.

James didn't notice however, instead he was staring in horror at the empty space where his top of the range, expensive, oh-so-beautiful car had been just minutes before. In its place lay Sirius Black, naked and sporting a bleeding nose.

"Sirius... where's my car?"

"Now, James, take deep breath," Sirius said, holding up his hands. "Think of how much worse this could have been..."

James could feel his blood pressure rising by the second, his face getting redder and redder and he threw his head back and screamed at the sky.

"NO! YOU FUCKING MORON! THIS CAN'T BE FUCKING HAPPENING! NOT AGAIN! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"

Lily dusted the snow from her trousers and squinted at Sirius. "Where are your clothes?"

Wincing as James marched round in circles, continuing his foul-mouthed tirades at the heavens, Sirius replied, "Apparently they really liked my suit as well."

"But they took your underwear..." she said, wrinkling her nose.

Sirius looked at her and started slowly shaking his head and she turned away in disgust.

"You're disgusting."

"I like to be free to move down there. Underwear is too constricting." He paused and watched James as he continued to scream for a few minutes. "There's a payphone over there... I'll go call us a taxi."


	2. Rule Number Two: A Curry Cures Everything. Well, Almost Everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of gore, violence and creepiness towards the end of this chapter.

A faint ringing in the distance broke into her dreams the next morning. Moaning as a dull throbbing began pounding in her head, Lily rolled over onto what she thought was the other side of her bed and instead rolled off the beaten up old couch and onto the cold hardwood floor of her living room with a loud thud.

"Owww..." she groaned, lying spreadeagled, her hair in a red fan around her head. The ringing was louder now and wouldn't stop. _The telephone..._ She pulled herself up onto her hands and knees and crawled over to the coffee table where she fumbled for the receiver.

"Whoever this is, you better be calling to tell me my flat is on fire because otherwise-"

"You're an hour and a half late for our briefing."

The familiar, stony voice on the other end of the line made her eyes widen and she jumped to her feet, searching the table frantically for her watch. 11:06. _Shit._

"I'll be right there!" Lily promised, not waiting to hear his response before slamming the phone down and running into the bathroom.

\-----

Scowling, James slammed his phone down and went to refill his coffee. The woman would be the death of him. It was another twenty seven minutes before she arrived panting at his office door, panting and, oddly enough, with mismatched shoes. His gaze travelled up from the strange fashion choice and lingered briefly on her heaving chest before he snapped back to reality and quickly averted his eyes.

"Sit down, Evans," he said, motioning to the chair opposite his. He noticed her brow furrow slightly but she made no comment as she settled down into the comfortable leather seat. James slid a file across the desk and settled back. "There's something we need to discuss."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Look, if this is about last night ... and then this morning... then I'm sorry, I'd had a bad day and-"

"Let's just forget about it," he interrupted brusquely, feeling another pang of despair at the memory of his missing car. He looked pointedly at the file in her hands. "We've been assigned together on this protection detail."

A brief look of horror, similar to the one that must have crossed his face when he had found out, flitted across hers before she masked it and opened the document. _3...2...1..._ She started shaking her head and looked up at him, disbelief clear in her eyes.

"There's been some kind of mistake here," she said, looking baffled, "I don't know why I've been assigned to this mission... it actually looks important."

Pushing aside his impatience, James replied, "I can assure you, it's not a mistake. I was at the main briefing yesterday; you must have impressed someone."

_Whereas I must have spectacularly pissed someone off._

"But shouldn't Meadowes be on a case like this with you? I mean, she has more experience, she's more qualified than I am."

"Yes, she is," he replied, through gritted teeth, "but you've been assigned to me and we just need to accept that. Now..." he cleared his throat. "We'll be posing as Mr and Mrs Frank and Alice Longbottom for the duration of the mission. The safe-house is still undergoing all of the necessary security fittings but our back-up team has already moved into their base."

"Who's on back-up?" Lily asked.

"Lupin and Pettigrew," James replied with a shrug. "Not worked with them since training but they've both got good records. You'll probably meet them at the briefing tomorrow morning."

"Oh," she replied, at a loss for words. This new bombshell mixed with her hangover was making her feel dizzy and she rubbed her forehead. Being married to James... she was literally living a nightmare.

\---

"You're going to get her taken off of you for neglect!" Petunia scolded, her voice rising over the dull thuds coming from the living room. She refilled the cat's bowl, giving her a wary glance, before glaring through the open kitchen door at Lily. She could barely look after herself, never mind an animal as well. Dirty mugs and bowls were piled precariously in the sink; the microwave door lay open, displaying the orange splatters decorating the inside; the fridge was bare bar a carton of milk and a block of mouldy Wensleydale. It was a far cry from the respectable and pristine kitchen of Number Four, Privet Drive. Petunia tutted and dodged out of the way skittishly as the tabby looked up at her and meowed.

Lily ignored her sister's nagging and continued banging her head against the table top, muttering death threats under her breath.

"Stop that!" Petunia commanded. "I'm getting a headache just looking at you!"

"What am I going to do, Tuney?" Lily complained, resting her cheek against the cool surface and turning pleading eyes on the older blonde. Petunia rolled her eyes.

"You're going to do your job," she replied, firmly. "Remember that, Lily? Remember the good old days when you actually did your job? You were going somewhere, you had _prospects_! Now look at you: moping around after that arrogant fool in this squat of a flat. I mean, really, did you even brush your hair this morning?"

"You're meant to comfort me," Lily grumbled, sitting up and fixing her sister with a petulant glare, "I'm at a crisis point in my life. I need, y'know, love and support and stuff."

Petunia scoffed as she picked up her handbag. "I'll see myself out. Don't be late for dinner again on Sunday."

Lily waited until she heard the door slam, then stood up and made her way over to the menu drawer.

"What'll it be tonight then, Minnie?" she asked the cat, who was now staring at her from the doorway, licking her lips. "Pizza or Indian? Pizza? Good choice, we had an Indian the night before after all."

Picking up the phone, she absent-mindedly punched in the number as she scanned the menu and waited impatiently for them to answer. Running a hand through her hair, she suddenly sat up straight as she heard a deep voice on the other end of the line, saying: "Hello?"

She'd dialled the wrong number. A very wrong number. Pressing her hand over the receiver, she exhaled loudly and recited all the curse words she knew, realising too late that she hadn't covered the whole mouthpiece. Trying to take calming breaths, she brought the receiver back to her ear, James Potter's confused voice sending shocks of horror and another emotion she didn't want to name through her skin.

"Evans? Is that you? Is something wrong?"

"Umm... no, nothing's wrong," she said weakly. "I just dialled the wrong number. See you at the office."

"Wait, don't hang up."

Lily waited as he paused, and chewed her thumbnail anxiously. The silence between them seemed to stretch on forever; the clock on the wall ticked the seconds by loudly.

"I think we need to clear the air before we start this mission," James said eventually, sounding a far cry from his normal, cocky self.

"I was just about to order pizza," she replied hesitantly, tugging nervously on the end of her ponytail.

Another pause followed.

"Any chance we could we make it an Indian?"

\----

"My flat's going to stink now," Lily said ruefully as she looked at the scattered take-out cartons and their congealing leftovers slopped on the dirty plates. James chuckled.

"It stinks anyway," he remarked, and dodged a couch pillow she tossed at him, "It's that bloody cat!"

"Don't insult Minnie!" Lily replied crossly, "She's a very clean cat, with impeccable manners."

"It's a shame her owner doesn't pick up some of those habits," he shot back with a smile. Lily found herself smiling in return and felt the unwanted memories started to nag at the back of her mind again. A heavy silence settled in the tiny living room, eventually broken by James who was looking a lot more nervous now.

"This mission could potentially take years," he stated, "It's the most important protection detail the agency has undertaken in years and we were picked for it, out of the whole department. The bosses obviously think we're a good match for this."

"Either that or they hate us," Lily replied raising her eyebrows. Considering the current slump her career was in, she was willing to bet more on that option.

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad, am I? It's not like _I_ cut up _your_ clothes and threw them out of a fourth floor window," he said, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.

She blushed a deep blotchy scarlet. "Oh good, you still remember that. I maintain that you deserved it!"

"That suit was Armani!" James groaned, reliving the memory, "It cost me a bloody fortune!"

"Serves you right for being such a twat," she said, laughing.

James chuckled. "Well, as long as you promise to stay away from my wardrobe, I think we may just make it out of this alive."

She held up her crossed fingers with a grin. “How did Sirius take the news? I’ve been worried about him, he seems unhappy.”

James let out a heavy sigh and took a swig of his beer. “I think that’s putting it mildly but you know what he’s like, he’ll never admit it. He went from being one of the agency’s rising stars to out on his ear almost overnight, just because of one bad call. And then there’s Marlene.”

“Marlene.” Lily nodded, thinking of the no-nonsense blonde woman Sirius had dated on and off for more than three years. “Those two… I always thought they’d get their shit sorted at some point and settle down They just seemed good together.”

“Yeah I think that’s what Sirius thought as well… unfortunately Marlene disagreed. It takes two to make the relationship work.” James looked away and took a deep glug of beer, his expression slightly bitter.

A pregnant silence settled heavily on the room and Lily gazed down at her fingernails, picking at the chipped nail polish on her thumb. There was so much unfinished business between them, so much unaired frustration and hurt that most of their conversations outside of work ended up like this; pointed comments and bitter recriminations. It was why they'd had the unspoken agreement to avoid each other as much as possible... up until now. Lily sighed softly.

“It’s getting late,” she said, quietly. 

Taking the hint, James nodded. “I’ll call a taxi. Thanks for…” He waved at the empty cartons and bottles strewn across the table. 

Lily offered a small smile. “You’re welcome. See you at the office.”

He returned it as he shrugged on his jacket and headed for the door. Just as he opened it, he seemed to suddenly remember something and turned back to her with a sheepish grin. “Don’t wear anything too smart. It’s a special training day tomorrow.”

\----

On the other side of London, that same no-nonsense blonde was in serious trouble. Perched on the rafters up in the loft, Marlene strained to hear the intruders she knew were creeping around the bottom floor of her house. The tell-tale creaks sent her heart racing; they were coming up the stairs. Her hand tightened around her gun and she inched forwards quietly towards a small hole in the floor below the wooden planks. Peering through, she saw three strangers in stalk past, all with guns of their own drawn. Marlene stopped herself from swearing aloud as one turned, showing the familiar, grotesque silver mask she’d hoped she’d never see again.

“She isn’t here.”

“She must be hiding. Keep looking.”

Marlene recognised the second voice with a spike of anger. She’d had several run ins with Arvin Travers; both had left scars on the other, their battle was personal. Her mind raced: it would only be a matter of time before they discovered her hiding place and she knew she had little chance of overpowering all three of them if she jumped down now. Her only hope was to wait for them to come up; the hatch that served as the loft’s entrance would only allow one at a time so she could pick them off individually rather than have to deal with them all at the same time.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Marlene swore and fumbled for her pager, scrambling to silence it before-

“What was that? Up there!”

Too late. In her haste to stop the pager Marlene lost her balance and toppled from the precarious rafter she had been crouched on. With a muffled cry she burst through the thin ceiling with a painful crack! and landed on her back in a cloud of dust on the landing below.

“Travers, she’s here!”

Marlene leapt for her gun but a shot rang out before she could reach it, followed swiftly by a burst of agony in her hand as a bullet shattered through flesh and bone. Giving up on the weapon, Marlene turned and fled for the stairs. She only made it a few metres before she was grabbed from behind, a powerful pair of arms encircled her waist and dragged her back just as she set her foot on the first stair. Travers’ rancid breath came in excited gasps against her face and she could feel his twisted smile against her skin as he pulled her back tightly against his chest.

“Where are you going, hmm?” He chuckled as she struggled against him, but he’d pinned her arms behind her back and hand-to-hand she wasn’t much of a match against his strength.

“We’ve got someone who wants a word with you. It’s rather urgent, I’m afraid, otherwise we could stay and catch up,” he hissed, planting a wet kiss on her cheek.

“Go to hell,” she growled, still trying to twist away from him.

“Oh don’t worry, we’re taking you there.”

The world went dark as another masked stranger pulled a hood roughly over her head. Her arms were pulled painfully as cold metal handcuffs snapped around her wrists. As she was dragged from the house, Marlene felt the cold air and tried to calm her breathing. This was it… this was the end.


End file.
